Munroe Center for Social Inquiry Fall 2017 Speaker Series
CONSPIRACY THEORY – CONSPIRACY FACT: Understanding a perplexing social phenomenon
Lecture: “Conspiracy Theories are for Losers”
Americans have believed in conspiracy theories since before the United States united. A ceaseless array of conspiracy accusations have demonized witches, Freemasons, foreigners, red coats, black helicopters, Mormons, Muslims, Jews, fifth columns, the government, and more recently, Vladimir Putin. The common assumption is that conspiracy theories are nothing more than the delusions of paranoid minds trying to make sense of an ever-more complicated world. However, the evidence tells a different story. In this talk, Joseph Uscinski will show that conspiracy theories follow a strategic logic: they are tools used by the powerless to attack and defend against the powerful. Conspiracy theories must conform to this logic, or they will not be successful. In this way, conspiracy theories are for losers.
Speaker: Joseph Uscinski is associate professor of political science at University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and co-author of American Conspiracy Theories (Oxford, 2014).
